This Couple Made the Cutest Home in Just 380 Square Feet — House Tour

Andrea her husband, Brian, live very cleanly and simply in a third floor apartment in Brooklyn. They recently added a new little one to their family and have magically made 380 square feet work. Though, they admit, “Once he’s mobile, we’re going to have to rethink!”

See the video tour of this home:

The best kept secret is their rooftop patio and garden. Having this space on the roof to escape to makes their home feel a bit bigger. They grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables and have dinner parties with friends. They also have an amazing view of the city.

Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Nostalgic and whimsical.

Inspiration: My grandma/antique shops/friends’ apartments.

Favorite Element: The tall ceilings and the amount of natural light makes the space feel bigger.

Biggest Challenge: Where to store things. We love having a washer/dryer, but it limits our closet space quite a bit. That is partly why I decided to build our storage bed. The big drawers hold most of our things.

What Friends Say: Cozy and welcoming.

Biggest Embarrassment: Whenever guests come over, I inevitably find myself throwing all manner of things on the far side of the bed to the point where I can no longer access half of my drawers.

Proudest DIY: The bar shelf in our kitchen. This was my first woodworking project. When I was little my mom and I often took trips to the post office together and I remember her turning the dial on the combination lock to retrieve our mail. There was something magical about it. Like opening a treasure box. After moving to New York, I passed by a UPS store that had some of these old doors displayed in their window. That was when I first had the idea of making something with them. The store wouldn’t sell them to me, so I turned to eBay and found this beautiful set of doors dating from the 1920s. Each door comes with its own unique combination.

I knew I wanted to build some kind of shelf that resembles how they appeared when you walked in the post office. I lined the inside of the boxes with pages from old books in different languages with themes that are meaningful to us. For instance, pages from a Japanese/English dictionary that contain ingredients for a gin hot toddy, a map of the Russian village where my husband’s ancestors are from and a German poem to represent my family.

Biggest Indulgence: Our living room rug. Found it on Craigslist. It reminds me of my grandma’s house. I’m also addicted to buying plants.

Best Advice: It takes time to make a space feel personal. Patience is not my strong suit so I often need to be reminded of this.

Dream Sources: I like objects that have a history or some sort of story that inspired their creation.

Big canvas — A work in progress. Based on a photo of rooftops in the city where we used to live, Aix-en-Provence, France. Am learning how to draw and paint with Will Kemp. Highly recommend his classes!

Jefferson ladder — Built by Andrea (I’ve always loved the look of home libraries with ladders so I tried to capture the spirit of one by building a shelf high above our couch and a ladder to reach it. I stumbled upon the folding ladder on YouTube when I came across a 1988 episode of “Woodright’s Shop” which demonstrates how to build one using old tools.)

Artwork above the bed — Made by Andrea (I was planning to make wreaths with the copper tubing I bought and by happy accident I ended up making this shape and thought it looked beautiful. The evergreen represents where my husband and I met (Portland, Oregon), the lavender, where we fell in love (Aix-en-Provence, France) and the rosemary from our garden where we live now (New York City).

All the furniture built by Andrea was assembled in the apartment. (Yes, we had a lot of sawdust in our home for a while.) The tools live under the couch.

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Phoebe was invited and attended an open call for National American Miss on May 18th. After being interview by the committee she was chosen as one of New Jersey's state finalist. Our next step for Phoebe to proceed is attaining sponsors. As we all know times are tough however, she would appreciate any amount you would be able to contribute. Phoebe is very excited to represent her state in August. The pageant goals are for her to gain poise and self-confidence, practice speaking in front of a live audience, and become actively involved in her community. All donations are tax deductible for businesses as an advertising expense. All sponsors will be listed in the state year book. Thank you for your time whether you chose to sponsor or not. The Armstead Family Help spread the word!